Individuals, businesses, and governments have grown increasingly dependent on the services and resources that are made available through the processing of computers and computerized control facilities. In spite of the explosive growth in the utilization of control circuits and personal computers in recent years, many computer applications continue to rely on the services provided by large computer mainframe installations. Such data processing facilities are often in continuous operation, twenty-four hours per day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year.
The computer equipment typically found in mainframe computer rooms generates vast amounts of heat and requires a limited temperature environment in which to operate reliably. In addition, a continuous supply of clean air is necessary to prevent the buildup of dust or dirt, which could contaminate the electrical circuits and compromise the reliable operation of the equipment.
While the thousands of mainframe computer installations in continuous operation throughout the world attest to the fact that many data processing facilities have provided at least basic cooling and filtration operations, problems still exist. In fact, HVAC (heating, ventilating, air conditioning) systems have been designed and implemented for year-around operation, with energy conservation cycles to take advantage of lower ambient temperatures. Some of these systems are well known to be fully integrated systems that address the cooling and filtration requirements of electronic data processing and control equipment. However, such systems are designed and marketed in a finite number of configurations, such as in 5, 10, 15, etc. ton capacities. Because of the critical nature of the services and resources provided by mainframe data processing systems and because of the finite operating temperatures and humidity in which such equipment can operate reliably, HVAC systems supporting computer facilities have been designed with redundant components in the form of backup compressors, pumps, and fan motors. However, such redundancy raises both the cost and size of such equipment. Furthermore, not all key components in such systems are duplicated, and a failure of any of these elements results in the HVAC system operating at reduced capacity or even being shut down to await parts and repair by skilled personnel.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.